Burr Oak Cemetery, the south suburban graveyard at the center of a burial plot reselling scandal, could soon include a memorial site in honor of the many Black people buried there.
Burr Oak Cemetery, the south suburban graveyard at the center of a burial plot reselling scandal, could soon include a memorial site in honor of the many Black people buried there.
The Chicago Burr Oak Cemetery Historical Society was created last month and is now working to memorialize loved ones buried at Burr Oak, 4400 W. 127th St. in Alsip.
The FBI finished gathering evidence Friday for its criminal investigation.
“We have completed our evidence collection at Burr Oak,” Tom Trautmann, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Chicago office, said at a Friday news conference. “What we recovered was more than just evidence but human remains.”
According to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, the 1,200 human bones recovered may never be matched up with actual bodies.
“It’s impossible for us to match any DNA we may be able to extract from the bones because we do not know who to match it up with,” he explained. “The records at Burr Oak are in such disarray we do not know who was buried here. Unlike a plane crash where body parts may be spread out all over the place, at least there is a record of who was on the plane.”
For this reason Tony Burroughs, a genealogist and spokesman for the non-profit historical society, said it is imperative “that Burr Oak be returned to a state of respect. And … a memorial is the best way to do that.”
The group is in the early phases of consideration for the memorial and don’t know all that it would take or cost to establish it.
The organization itself is still in the formative stages, but Burroughs said its members would include Antoinette Wright, president and CEO of the DuSable Museum of African American History; Peggy Montes, president of the Bronzeville Children’s Museum; and noted historian Timuel Black.
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